Men Reading Romance Books

Someone posted one of those hot pictures of a guy reading the other day on Facebook and it made me think that if more men read romance books their women would be happier so I turned to my friend who’s husband reads romances and asked her to talk to her husband and see if he could write something up for our blog. I think a lot of guys do not know anything about some of the romance books we read and would actually enjoy them if they picked them up. Brad gives us his thoughts below. /Cori

Brad Bezoni’s Thoughts on Reading Romance Books:

Yes, I admit it, I am a man, and I read romance novels. Not the Jackie Collins type, but the ones that are more slanted to the paranormal – vampires, werewolves, mythological based, etc. Now keep in mind that my typical reading fare is in the Sci Fi and fantasy realm – Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Dune, Stephen King and the like. Hell, my favorite book growing up was In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. So romance novels – not really what I ever thought I would end up reading. Let me take you back to the beginning, and explain…

My wife began reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood books a couple of years ago, and as I didn’t have anything that I was reading at the time she suggested I take a stab at them (she thought I would enjoy the fighting scenes). And I have to admit, I was sucked into most of the books and the series instantly. The back stories of the characters, the depth of the environment, the attention to detail, the “liberties” that the authors took and ran with to make their worlds believable – it was all much more than I ever thought any romance author would have put into their books. And the violence, oh the sweet, glorious violence that these books held – references to Glocks, Sig Sauers, sais, katanas, martial arts forms, graphic descriptions of fight scenes, it was a dream come true (although I was a little concerned when I first heard “Baby, what’s a Sig Sauer?” from the bedroom)! Then, THEN, the “romance”; not any of the “they laid down on the bed and gently made love for hours on end” crap that just makes men want to vomit, but true, gritty, graphic scenes, so expertly written that you could see them play out in your mind (and yes, I have always had a very dirty mind). From the soft, gentle lovemaking scenes to the rough, hard, have to have it nowz scenes, all were written in a way that I could read and not think I needed to put a bullet through my brain because NO ONE ever thinks or acts that way. They are written with a real edge, a true person’s perspective, and did I mention graphic???

Do I enjoy reading them? You bet I do, but not just for the sex scenes, or the violence, or the mythos – no, I enjoy reading them for all of these reasons combined, and the way that each of them play and build off of each other. The southern belle being wooed by a suitor while on her plantation in the south – give me a break, I have better things to do, like a root canal. But a woman who wakes up chained to a vampiric hunter, and becomes a part of a centuries old war between Hunters and a sub race bent on feeding on the souls of the innocent, and who happens to have hot, steamy sex that would give the adult film industry a run for its money – yeah, that I can gladly give my time to. (This is a description of Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon) And I won’t lie, I’ve taken some of the things that were in the books and used them in the bedroom, much to my, and definitely to my wife’s, benefit.

Now I know my tastes aren’t those of everyone – some people may not like stories of fights and fantasy, and some people may like the highly froo-froo stories. More power to them. I for one enjoy these stories/books, and plan to continue reading them into the future. And just for reference, I’ve been reading J. R. Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Thea Harrison, Karen Marie Moning and Gena Showalter, as well as other novels in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres interspersed along the way.